


Eagle's Prey

by rowdy_tanner



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 22:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15872562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowdy_tanner/pseuds/rowdy_tanner
Summary: Short missing scene from Obsession: As Nathan Jackson treats Chris Larabee's bullet wound Vin Tanner decides to ride after Ella Gaines fully determined to kill her dead.





	Eagle's Prey

> # Eagle's Prey

> > by Rowdy Tanner

> Short missing scene from Obsession: As Nathan Jackson treats Chris Larabee's bullet wound Vin Tanner decides to ride after Ella Gaines fully determined to kill her dead.

> > > > "Vin---"

> The tracker held up his closed fist for silence.

> "I'm riding along too."

> Vin Tanner ignored Buck Wilmington and resumed saddling Peso.

> "I want that bitch dead and buried and not necessarily in that order."

> Vin Tanner hesitated and then slowly nodded his head in solemn agreement, he wasn't riding this one alone after all.

> "Brothers," greeted Josiah Sanchez as he joined them.

> "Ya ain't talkin' us round, Josiah," rasped the tracker defiantly.

> "Not going to slow you up neither." The preacher silently saddled his own horse.

> The three men rode away from Ella Gaines' ranch. Leaving behind a wounded Chris Larabee bleeding both from a bullet hole and from somewhere deep in the heart.

> "It ain't goin' ta be pretty, Josiah, when I catches up with her," warned Vin Tanner. "Mebbe it ain't right a preacher should ride along."

> "I am an expert at prayers for the dead and I already have one in mind for Ella Gaines."

> Tracking her wasn't easy, the ground was hard and she seemed not to care if she rode her horses into the ground. By nightfall she was still at least half a day ahead of them. They made camp and ate in silence. Partly out of respect for Buck Wilmington's loss, twice Vin had seen the big ladies' man wipe the tears away for Hilde but mostly for Chris Larabee.

> *******

> They broke camp to resume tracking at dawn.

> Vin read the ground as fluently as Josiah read The Holy Bible and a few towns later it soon became apparent where she was heading.

> "Texas, Vin?" asked Buck.

> "Why?" inquired Josiah.

> "She's plumb loco but she ain't stupid," rasped the tracker, remounting Peso. "She knows I'm goin' ta be on her trail, she's reckonin' on me not followin' her on inta Texas. Hell, has she gotten it wrong."

> "You can't, Vin."

> "Chris wouldn't want you to risk yourself, Vin," pointed out Josiah, knowing to do so was fruitless.

> "Then y'all better kill her afore she gets there 'cos I ain't givin' up 'til that bitch's scalp is hangin' from my belt iffen I gotta ride all the way ta Tascosa."

> "I agree to riding on after her but if we haven't caught her by the time we reach Texas we all turn back before we cross the border," decided Buck.

> "Agreed," intoned Josiah. "We're turning back at the border."

> "The Hell I is," Tanner muttered under his breath, spurring Peso onwards.

> For the next few days they stayed in the saddle, only stopping to rest the horses, until the darkness forced them to stop for the night.

> *******

> It was noon when Buck Wilmington drew his gun, "We turn back now, Vin."

> "Go ta Hell."

> "I'm taking you back to Chris without you getting your neck stretched in Texas even if I've to shoot you full of big holes to do it. Turn back, Vin, she's already in Texas now."

> "Fuck off."

> "Brother Vin, don't you think Chris has lost enough family without losing you too?" sighed Josiah.

> "Chris always knew I were gonna ride back ta Texas one day, reckon now is a good a time as any."

> "Mule-headed tracker! It will kill Chris if you let her win and get your self hanged. I can shoot you now or out of the saddle later it's your choice!" shouted Buck angrily.

> "We's so close I kin smell her an' I ain't givin' up now."

> "How close?" asked Josiah, recognizing the stubborn set of the tracker's stubbled chin.

> "We take one look through my spyglass from up high an' iffen she ain't in sight we turn back," offered the tracker watching an eagle return to its nest, a crow in its talons.

> "Agreed."

> "She's jist up ahead," insisted Tanner. handing Buck his spyglass.

> "That's only a dust devil," argued Buck, passing the spyglass over to Josiah for moral support.

> "I can't see anything," confessed Josiah, "I don't think Vin would lie about this."

> "I would but I ain't. We go on an' I swear we kin have her in the ground by nightfall, Bucklin."

> "Or we turn back?"

> "Agreed."

> "Let's ride."

> *******

> Ella Gaines was confident she had outdistanced them. It had been a calculated risk. Hiring men to protect her was perhaps the safest option but would have taken up valuable time plus she might have had to settle for men who had little chance of besting the tracker and his friends. So outrunning them rather than outgunning them made more sense. Taking the trail to Texas had been an inspired gamble too.

> When Chris Larabee had frittered away time better spent making love to her, whispering stories in her ear in the dead of night, she had at first become beside herself with jealous rage when so much time had been wasted on talk of his beloved friend, Vin Tanner. Then she had come to understand how valuable the information was to her. Chris had even trusted her with the story of Vin Tanner and Eli Joe. As if she could bear the thought of Chris finding a brother to love when she had schemed to make him hers and hers alone. If she could wipe out one family she could easily destroy another. Perhaps in Texas she could pay men to ride after Vin Tanner and bring him back to Tascosa.

> Glancing at her left hand she smiled at the new gold wedding band. She had already penned Chris a letter that explained it all. Putting it all to rights and so he would understand how much she had done for him she had signed it  _Ella Gaines Larabee_. Enclosing their portrait she would mail it to her dear 'husband' in the first Texan town she reached.

> *******

> Now they were so close they picked up speed. Their fast horses rapidly closing the distance until even Josiah could see a rider on the horizon.

> "Is it her?" asked Buck knowing it was a stupid question. What other mad woman would be out here alone in the desert?

> "Yep," growled Vin.

> "I want to see her breathe her last, Vin."

> "Ya will, Bucklin."

> Ella Gaines saw the eagle sweep low and circle overhead. Suddenly struck with the bizarre notion it was spying on her she cursed the hot Texan sun for putting such ludicrous thoughts in her mind. Yet as the eagle turned aside she risked reining in her horse and looking behind her. She watched mouth agape as the eagle flew straight as an arrow as if to report back to three oncoming riders. Three riders she instinctively identified on seeing that the middle rider of the three was clad in buckskin.

> Cursing Vin Tanner she whipped her horse into a gallop. Her long dark hair streaming out behind her she tried to get every last bit of speed from her mount. Together they careered across the uneven ground in a reckless headlong gallop. Already saddle sore and raw at the mouth her steed gave everything it had to jump the dry wash suddenly appearing up ahead. The horse pecked badly on landing. Struggling to keep her grip on the reins Ella was unseated. Falling from the saddle her foot became entangled in the stirrup.

> The three men watched as she was dragged along the ground. Whether she saw the patch of spiny cacti looming up ahead and knew the bloody death fate finally had in store for her or not they couldn't guess. Josiah could not bring himself to watch. Finally her horse was too exhausted to run any longer.

> *******

> Riding up, a scene of carnage greeted them. They had no option but to shoot the horse as eyes rolling it limped around turning small circles in the sand. What remained of Ella Gaines resembled a shredded rag doll. A white envelope fluttered in the breeze and Vin picked it up. The three men stared down at the blood-spattered furrows that striped the ruined body of Chris Larabee's Nemesis.

> "Do we bury her here?" Josiah finally asked.

> "No," answered Vin Tanner, staring up at the soaring eagle. "Leave her where she lays. Eagle knows what ta do."

> "I can live with that," agreed Buck.

> "What do we tell Chris?" asked Josiah.

> "We tell Chris we never found her. She leaked out of the landscape," decided Vin.

> "And we mail the letter next town we pass back through," added Buck.

> Josiah stared from one to the other, "Why?"

> "To give Chris a reason to get up in the mornings," stated Buck flatly.

> Vin looked at Buck and knew why Buck still rode with Chris after all this time even if Chris himself didn't know why. Vin held out his hand to Buck and they grasped each other's forearm as Josiah looked away. Not because Josiah was embarrassed but because he was overwhelmed by the same emotion.

> "Can we keep it between us three? Not even tell the others?" Josiah finally asked.

> "We gotta keep it 'tween us three ferever," rasped Vin.

> "One for all and all for one," muttered Buck bitterly.

> As they rode away leaving Ella Gaines to the eagle, a gold ringed third finger left hand twitched in the sand.

> **THE END**


End file.
